It felt like a royal procession as Aidan O'Brien's eight contenders for the Breeders' Cup meeting set out to work on the track on Wednesday morning. Behind the horses was a 50-strong entourage of family, friends, journalists and camera crews, while Kip Deville, last year's Mile winner, and his work-rider were trying to head in the opposite direction. "What's going on?" she asked as she fought against the tide. "Don't worry," someone shouted back, "it's just the Aidan O'Brien Show."

O'Brien always grabs the attention at this meeting and, though he has not had a winner at the Breeders' Cup since 2003 - which was also the last Cup here at Santa Anita - his runners are always accorded maximum respect. This year, it is more of a battalion than a team, while there is extra interest because O'Brien still has a chance to beat the record of 25 Grade One wins in a year set by Bobby Frankel, an American racing Hall of Famer, five years ago.

O'Brien's rampaging form in the first five months of the season has slowed a little of late, but his team this year still includes such horses as Duke Of Marmalade, Henrythenavigator and Soldier Of Fortune. He currently stands on 21 Grade One winners and could conceivably draw level with Frankel by Saturday night.

"It's great that it's even being mentioned, but we don't think about it really," O'Brien said yesterday. "The horses have had a long season and a lot of Group Ones went our way in the summer. They haven't gone our way lately, but some of them haven't been beaten far and they seem like they are still in good shape.

"We always try and do what we think is the right thing for the horses and the system. Henrythenavigator would probably have been a short-priced favourite in the Mile, but we felt that he wouldn't have anything to prove by running in that race, and obviously the Classic catches everyone's imagination."

Soldier Of Fortune, who runs in the Turf, has a reputation as a soft-ground performer, thanks mainly to his easy win on bad ground in last year's Irish Derby. O'Brien, though, believes he will cope with the much faster surface at Santa Anita tomorrow, when temperatures are forecast to reach 100 degrees.

"He's one of those horses, the ground doesn't affect him," O'Brien said. "He's very natural, and he keeps pushing himself forward, whether it's soft or fast. He's a very good mover too, he doesn't bend his knee much and he should have no problem with fast ground.

"Some of ours have started to go in their coats, but when they come out here they tend to tighten up again. Humans appreciate coming to the sun and the horses do, too. It's a lovely dry heat here and I would rather come into the warm than into harsh weather, as the sun gives them an extra little push forward."

O'Brien has runners in six of the 14 Breeders' Cup races over the next two days, but the Classic is clearly the race that O'Brien wants most, having gone close to victory with Giant's Causeway eight years ago.

"We don't ever expect anything to happen, because if you do that, it duly doesn't happen," O'Brien said, "but it would mean the world to us to win a race like that. They're two great horses and they've given their all, but if one of them were to do it, I can't describe what that would mean.

"We were happy that Johnny [Murtagh] went for the Duke because he needs Johnny, and we're sure that he handles the ground and we're sure that he gets a mile and a quarter, so looking at him you'd think there are more positives than with Henry. With Henry, if he gets the mile and a quarter then he has a chance, but it's whether he'll get it.

"Everyone says that the Duke's form dipped in the Arc, but Johnny didn't feel that. The race did not work out as we hoped it would, but that meant he didn't have a hard race, so in the end it might have been a blessing."

Ron Cox's tip of the day

Fongs Gazelle 5.10 Doncaster

There are few better lady amateur riders than Jacqui Kidd, who won this race on Suits Me last year. She can follow up on Fongs Gazelle, who shaped as though returning to form when running on well to take fourth spot behind E Major at Lingfield. Mark Johnston's filly should be sharper in the first-time visor and she is well handicapped, 2lb below her last winning mark.